Strauss-Kahn blasts US 'perp walk' as unfair

Embattled former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told CNN that his being handcuffed and paraded in front of the media by New York City Police in May 2011 was unfair, blasting the “perp walk” that is commonplace in the United States.

Embattled former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that the police practise of parading suspects in a crime in front of the media before they stand trial was unfair, in an interview in which he spoke about his arrest by New York City police two years ago.

“In all European and American society you are supposed to be innocent until you are convicted. And the perp walk takes place at the moment when you are supposed to be innocent,” Strauss-Kahn told the American news channel CNN.

“You are shown to everybody as if you were a criminal at a moment when nobody knows if it’s true or not. Maybe you are a criminal or not,” he added.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested in John F. Kennedy Airport on May 2011 on sexual assault and attempted rape charges. At the time, he was considered a major contender in France’s forthcoming presidential elections.

Images of him handcuffed and being escorted in by officers were broadcast widely in his native France.

New York prosecutors eventually dropped the case against him, citing the unreliable testimony of his accuser, Sofitel chamber maid Nafissatou Diallo.

“I was so angry because I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn't know why I was there.” Strauss-Kahn recalled. “I just knew something was going on that I didn’t control.”